The annual statistics generated by the video-game industry are staggering in their growth. According to the NPD Group, in the United States alone, almost $18 billion was generated by the video-game industry in 2007. The number represents a 43-percent jump in sales from 2006. While the current-generation console war played a large part in the increase of revenue this past year, it is impossible to deny that the industry is growing – fast.

Last year was a record year for blockbuster releases. As technology improves, games become more expansive, stories more involved and the time investment into games by both developers and players follows the trend upward. Trying to keep up with the newest titles sometimes makes gaming feel more like a full-time job than a hobby. The question remains: In a market full to the point of supersaturation with endless gameplay options, why do we still replay games? It certainly is not for lack of titles, genres or outlets for gaming. Even with a healthy portion of newly released games on my plate… even I sometimes succumb to the call of games from my past.

It turns out, there are plenty of motives to replay games. With reasons spanning from financial limitations to quelling nostalgic urges, it seems these days the average gamer’s collection doesn’t stay put long enough to collect dust.

Reason 1: Financial Limitations

“Because my parents are cheap asses”
Andrew Reiner,
Executive Editor, Game Informer Magazine

The first reason is probably the one that plagues the majority of us…pure lack of financial resources. Gaming isn’t exactly cheap. You may be a teenager, and your parents don’t yet understand that games are vital to your development into an adult. You may be a college student, living off of ramen and juice packs. You may have recently purchased a house and are only now adjusting to having a mortgage. You may have just spawned your first little gamer, and diapers and formula are eating away at your paycheck, or you may have spent the majority of your money pimping out your space for the optimal gaming experience – forgetting to save money for actual games. Let’s not forget that sometimes it is hard to justify the purchase of new games to a non-gaming spouse.

With video-game software averaging $50 a pop – and collector’s editions running the gambit from $60 to $130 – most gamers have to pick and choose their purchases wisely. Further limiting access to new titles is the price of consoles. Not every gamer (or parent of a gamer) can afford to purchase a current-generation console let alone all three top contenders. Unfortunately, bills, utilities, gas and food take financial priority – for most rational people.

While it might be a few months till you can afford a minor spending spree, at least you have your collection to keep you company. Unless you have to choose between selling your mint-condition NES collection (including a copy of Nintendo World Championships) and putting a kidney up for sale on the black market in order to avoid bankruptcy, your array of previously played titles should keep you satisfied till that next paycheck rolls around.

Reason 2: Nostalgia

“I like to replay my favorite series right before a new release. Not only does it get me pumped up, but it helps me remember what the hell is going on in the story.”
Joe Juba
Associate Editor, Game Informer Magazine

Maybe you despised *gasp* the most recent Zelda release and want to remind yourself why you loved the series in the first place. Maybe you are sick of the drugs, sex and violence in modern games and pine for a simpler time where navigating mazes and eating 8-bit ghosts was the apex of violent titles. (Please ignore Custer’s Revenge and Postal for the sake of the nostalgic gamer’s argument.) Perhaps you simply want to play a game that does not require mastering 10 buttons simultaneously and perfect hand-eye coordination to have a good time. Or you may long for a time when playing games was a stationary endeavor. When did flailing your arms about in an eccentric manner become part of the gaming equation? When did it become cool for a gaming peripheral to tell you to get off your ass and lose weight?

When you feel exhausted just thinking about starting an RPG boasting “Epic adventure delivering over 80 hours of gameplay – complete with a vast array of power-ups, advanced attacks and over 100 different skills,” replaying a game from 1985 might be for you. Take some time to detoxify from all the unadulterated trash (thanks, Nolan) that floods the current market and replay some classics from the past few decades.

Or – contrary to the above – you might not have any qualms with modern games. You may enjoy every graphical improvement, customizable element and innovative control scheme under the sun. While you love old games, you follow the wave of the future. Your rationale for replaying games may stem from the simple desire to promote a greater sense of appreciation for classic games – to know your roots. You don’t mind the fact that there is a direct correlation between your friends becoming gamers and the release of the original Halo title. However, after getting tired of explaining why your “I FEEL ASLEEP” shirt is so funny, you might choose to dust off the NES, find your copy of Metal Gear and make them sit and watch you play. Replaying games is fantastic for this purpose – to further the appreciation of these groundbreaking titles.

Reason 3: Old Game, New Tricks

“In college, my buddies and I would jump into an old game for no other reason than to try out new secrets or cheat codes we’d come across.”
Matt Miller
Associate Editor, Game Informer Magazine

Similar to the motivation inspired by nostalgia, finding new tricks in old titles is more than enough reason to pick a game back up. If you were born after the video-game crash of 1983, you might have been too young to fully experience or appreciate some classic titles you played in your youth. Massive online databases with categorized cheat codes and walkthroughs were nonexistent at the time these titles debuted. Friends, magazines and phone calls to game counselors were the only support system most gamers had at the time.

Today, every game ever created has been broken down and analyzed, every Easter egg has been found and every secret area or cheat code exposed. With the resources available through the greater video-game community, both classic and modern games have been stripped naked for the world to see. What is the benefit of this practice? If you choose, you no longer have any excuse to miss content in a game – unlockable, secret or otherwise. However, chances are still high that you missed out on enough content in older games to merit a second go.

Was the Contra Code on a T-shirt the first time you saw it? Want to see if the Lara Croft nude code works with your own eyes? (It doesn’t) Never understood how you only got 70-percent completion in Vagrant Story? Did you somehow miss the resemblance between the final boss in Bionic Commando and Hitler? Pop in the games with your newly acquired resources and give them a go – again.

Reason 4: Unlockables

“I replayed the original Metal Gear Solid and Twin Snakes several times just for the tuxedo and ‘Spider-man’ costumes.”
Bryan Vore
Associate Editor, Game Informer Magazine

The above cheat codes and online resources often come in handy when trying to unlock extra content in video games. Handy – but not essential. The existence of unlockable content has an inherent magnetism that proves almost impossible for most gamers to escape. There is no doubt that video games are becoming more complex. Even with the aid of an in-game completion indicator, it is nearly impossible to experience everything a game has to offer the first time around. Some titles require the player to complete the game more than once to unlock extra items, accessories or content. The Silent Hill series and its assortment of alternative endings – which only become available when specific criteria are met while playing through the game – is a perfect example.

Some games allow players to keep items, character statistics or other beneficial features from the first game as incentive to play again. The New Game + option in Final Fantasy X-2 allows users to try for 100-percent completion if they missed it the first time around. An alternative – and much more complete – ending is unlocked as the reward for anyone able to fully complete the game. Finishing Resident Evil 4 once results in a similar situation – the player gets to keep all the items accrued in their first game.

Ultimate weapons are another form of unlockables that tug at a gamer’s conscience enough to warrant a second play-through worthy. A popular element of RPG titles, ultimate weapons may require several hour-long side quests in order to unlock them. In Final Fantasy XII, players must avoid opening four treasure chests scattered across the world in order to unlock the most powerful weapon in the game – the Zodiac Spear. One of the four contraband chests is available early on in Final Fantasy XII, resulting in a very high chance that the player already opened it before learning about the existence of the weapon. Just to spite players by giving them a sliver of hope, the Final Fantasy XII creators decided to make the spear available one more time during the game. The Zodiac spear has a 1-in-1000 chance of showing up randomly in a different treasure chest. In this specific situation, replaying the game from the start would prove less time consuming than betting on chance.

Unlockable costumes are another huge motivation for gamers to play through a title multiple times. Some video-game developers make the player work hard for the shirt on their back. Some unlockable outfits become available immediately after beating a game the first time, while others only become available after finishing the game several times on various difficulty settings. Once the sought-after garment is obtained, the player might choose to play again solely to watch Lara Croft bounce around in her newly acquired black bikini. It is undeniable that there is an extra draw to get the best alternative garb for buxom female leads. Ashley Graham’s Resident Evil 4 “Pop Sensation” costume is a perfect example – in all of its age-inappropriate glory. To contrast, not all unlockable costumes are revealing in nature. In God of War II, after playing through once, you can replay the game with man-candy Kratos donning a giant cod suit. I can imagine the sight never ceases to be funny.

Unusual clothing aside – unlockable trailers, demos and other forms of media are similar motivations to play a game more than once. If 100-percent completion means a finally seeing an alternative ending, getting your hands on that ultimate weapon, or unlocking some new garb, chances are true fans will be willing to invest the time.

Reason 5: Difficulty, Co-Op and Multiplayer Modes

“You never really know what you are going to get (or who you are going to meet) when it comes to online play. The uncertainty makes the experience even more fun in my mind.”
Meagan VanBurkleo,
Associate Editor, Game Informer Online

Multiplayer gameplay splits hairs in the argument that online play equals replaying a game. However, if turning on Call of Duty 4 every night in a row for months keeps you from playing other titles it counts in my book. In that respect, multiplayer gameplay is the most dynamic way to replay a game. Even with expansion packs, new maps and other downloadable content – with enough effort is possible to experience everything the physical game has to offer. The ever-changing friends and foes in online play is what makes the experience impossible to duplicate. All these features built into a single game are plenty enough reason to keep us coming back for more.

Reason 6: Achievement Points

“If I’m playing a game for Achievements, sometimes I have to prioritize goals and make multiple runs. In Dead Rising, for example, you can’t simultaneously rescue all the survivors and get the Zombie Genocide award. If it’s a fun game, it’s a great incentive to keep going back for more. If it’s merely OK, I’ll try to plot out the easiest way to milk it for points before moving on. I have no shame.”
Jeff Cork
Editor, Game Informer Online

Achievements run the gamut in both levels of difficulty to obtain, levels of points rewarded and levels of absurdity. However, sheer outrageousness does not seem to stop hardcore gamers from trying to get a hold of them. Final Fantasy XI players would have to reach level 75 in more than 18 different character categories in order to get all the achievement points available in the title. For this reason Achieve360points.com rates the game’s Achievements nearly impossible to obtain.

In Bully: Scholarship Edition, egging cars, kissing ladies (and gentlemen), tripping fellow students with marbles and picking flowers all award the player with points. Needless to say, with this particular title unlocking Achievements goes hand in hand with amusing gameplay antics – double the reason to replay the game.

Achievement points force players to dabble in all of the previously mentioned categories. Some Achievements are awarded for single player tasks, some for co-op play and some for online matches. Because of this, it’s rare that gamers have only one incentive to replay a game.

Reason 7: I can’t quit you – Addiction

“After a while, it’s awfully tough to go back to playing offline games after building friendships in an MMO. Honestly, it all feels so lonely without having a guild to chat with.”
Adam Biessener
Associate Editor, Game Informer Magazine

Does it count as replaying a game if you never really stopped in the first place? I think we all have at least one friend who suffers from a World of Warcraft addiction. Just like multiplayer online matches, MMOs are dynamic by nature. While you may choose to spend all your time leveling up one character and going on raids with friends – you may also have a portfolio of characters of different races ready to play on a whim. Granted, each gameplay experience may be drastically different, but in theory these games are designed to be “replayed” an infinite amount of times.

Is your reason for replaying a game simply because you can’t stop? With the ever-changing experiences that are characteristic of Massively Multiplayer Online games, honestly, why play anything else?

Just keep telling yourself that…

Reason 8: Who the Hell needs a Reason?

“But for me, the main reason for replaying a game is probably the simple fact that it was fun.”
Ben Reeves,
Associate Editor, Game Informer Magazine

We have learned that gamers replay games for a multitude of reasons. Replaying games is a great way to keep you entertained between paychecks and to satisfy your nostalgic urges. Trying out tricks and cheats you may have missed in younger years and unlocking extra content also make the list. Picking up the controller again for co-op and multiplayer modes, to gain Achievement points, or simply because you can’t seem to stop yourself are also valid excuses for not moving on. However – in the end – who the hell needs a reason?

Do you like fun?
Was the game fun?
Then play the game again – end of story.

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